The Difference Between “rain” and “showers” in Your Weather Forecast
With the long Memorial Day weekend starting, you might want to check the weather forecast for the next few days, especially if you’re planning to do something outdoors.
Maybe you are lucky and all you see is sunlight coming towards you. But if you see a small rain cloud indicating that you will be dealing with light rainfall, you may not pay attention to the rest of the forecast. After all, rain is rain, right?
Well, not really. When it comes to your weather forecast, “rain” and “showers” are two different things. Here’s what you need to know.
Difference between “rain” and “shower”
It basically comes down to the intensity and duration of rainfall, according to the Farmer’s Almanac :
Rain
- Constantly falling
- Lasts for hours or days
- Usually widespread in your town or city
souls
- Weak precipitation
- Shorter duration
- Can start and stop within a certain period of time
- Tends to be more dispersed across territory
- Tip: Think of a real (bathing) shower that doesn’t last for hours.
How to get tips for other weather conditions
Weather forecasts can be helpful, but they can also be wrong. Therefore, sometimes it can be more useful to look for information in the clouds, notes the Farmer’s Almanac .
For example, flat gray (stratus) clouds usually mean that you are expecting more heavy and prolonged rains in the near future. Meanwhile, puffy (cumulus or cumulonimbus) clouds are often a sign that rain is coming rather than steady precipitation.
In addition to clouds, you can also get information about the weather conditions in your area. For example, if a cold or warm front is passing through your state, there’s a good chance rain is just around the corner.
Then come those fragrant summer days when you almost feel like the rain – and perhaps the thunder and lightning – is coming later.
In this case , the Farmer’s Almanac states that such conditions can lead to late showers: “heat warms air pockets, which then rise high into the atmosphere, cooling as they move upward and causing water vapor to condense inside them and eventually raindrops fall from the sky.